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Friday, 29 November 2013

POLICE RAID FILM CRITICAL OF KING

Swaziland police broke up a screening of a documentary
critical of King Mswati III and detained the owner of the studio.

Swazi police, acting without a warrant or court order, broke
up the screening of The King and the People
at a studio at the Christian Media Centre in Manzini.

The screening had been organised by the Swaziland United
Democratic Front, an organisation campaigning for democracy in the kingdom
ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.

About 50 people had gathered to watch the documentary
when police arrived and closed down the screening. They detained the owner of
the studio and questioned him for about three hours, according to reports
from Swaziland.

The King and the People, made by Simon Bright, is a
recently-released documentary that investigates the present situation in
Swaziland. It has been shown across the world.

In a preview of the
movie, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) said, ‘The
film shines a light on a crisis forgotten or misunderstood by many and unravels
the reality of the existence, in the 21st century, of a governing system that
is based on royal supremacy, greed, power and zero tolerance to fundamental
human rights.’

Percy Zvomuya, who reviewed the documentary for OSISA,
said, ‘In the movie, there are gritty, frenetic close-up shots of activists on
strikes and state thugs beating them up. The grit is placed side by side with
the rather drowsy shots of talking heads: an academic, a teacher, an activist
and a politician deconstructing the crisis.’

He added, ‘But connecting all of this is a sad story of a
country (or half a country?) presided over by an elite that controls the
executive, the legislature, the judiciary, business and the media. A scene in
which the king is seen having 'consultations' with his subjects gives new
meaning to the phrase “bootlicking”.’

The breaking up of the public gathering is not the first
of its kind in Swaziland. In April 2013 armed police
physically stopped people from entering a public meeting at a restaurant
that was called to discuss the undemocratic nature of the impending national
election. Police said it ‘presented a threat to national security’.

In March 2013, riot police with batons halted
a prayer meeting in Manzini because it had been organised by the Trade
Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), an unregistered organisation in the
kingdom.

In February 2013 about 60 armed police broke up another
prayer meeting, this time at the Our Lady of Assumption Catholic cathedral
in Manzini. Police said the prayer was a
political meeting, organised to disrupt the election that was later held in
September.